Northwestern on Ice

With the opening of the brand new ice skating rink on the east lawn of Norris University Center, the NU community can lace up the skates at Northwestern for the first time in decades. The last time students circled the ice on university grounds, the Blackhawks were years away from ending their long Stanley Cup drought. In 1963 an Olympic-sized skating area (spanning four tennis courts) was created in the new Byron S. Coon Sports Center just east of McGaw Hall, and was re-frozen each winter for a number of years. But NU's skating tradition goes back sixty years before that. An ad from 1913 advertises band concerts in January at the University Rink, located at the corner of Orrington and Emerson. Skate rental: 15 cents. Opportunity for ice-dancing with no chaperones: priceless.